POSTGAME NOTESNotes: Baylor is 37-40 all-time against Oklahoma, 5-3 in neutral sites, 3-3 in Big 12 Championship play and won two of three in Waco this season ... Baylor is 4-2 in neutral sites this season ... Baylor was eliminated by and lost to Oklahoma twice in the Big 12 Championship last season, ending a three-game winning streak for Baylor over Oklahoma in tournament play ... Baylor is 28-27 all-time in Big 12 Championship play, 26-23 in Oklahoma City, 10-8 in pool play and 26-21 in Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark ... Baylor owns a 5-9 all-time record as a five seed in the Big 12 Championship ... Baylor is 11-6 overall in Big 12 Championship opening games ... Baylor and Oklahoma are the only schools to have participated in all 17 Big 12 Championships ... Baylor is 9-5 in TV games this season, 18-10 since 2011 and 47-51 all-time ... Nathan Orf has reached base in seven straight games and has a five-game hitting streak ... Nathan Orf's sixth-inning HBP gave him sole possession of first place all-time at Baylor with 48 in his career ... Adam Toth has reached base in a career-high 18 straight games ... Jake Miller has reached base in five straight games ... Dillon Newman has seven starts this season with six or more innings and three runs or less ... Newman has thrown six or more innings nine times in 12 starts, including in each of the last four.

OKLAHOMA CITY- Baylor ran into one of the nation's top pitchers on the top of his game in a 2-0 loss to Oklahoma to open up pool play at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Thursday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

After both teams endured a near 3.5-hour rain delay, a pitcher's duel unfolded between Oklahoma's (37-19) Jonathan Gray and Baylor's (27-26) Dillon Newman that was very reminiscent of the game the two teams played in Waco on April 12. Unfortunately, the end result was the opposite for the Bears.

"[Gray] got in a good flow and just pitched," said BU Head Coach Steve Smith. "He can just pitch. He reminds me of (Roger) Clemens because of his three-pitch command and his command of the game. He is really good. It'll be interesting to see which one of those two guys goes first between him or the guy from Stanford (Mark Appel)."

The first inning proved to be the determining factor as both pitchers got off to slow starts. Gray threw four straight balls to leadoff batter Lawton Langford and made a bad throw on a pickoff attempt to move Langford into second base with one out. But the Bears didn't take advantage as Cal Towey grounded out and Jake Miller went down swinging.

Newman was greeted with two straight hits to start the game - a single by Craig Aikin and an RBI double from Jack Mayfield. The 1-0 lead was all the Sooners needed, and they added to it with three straight singles in the third for an insurance run.

After that, though, Newman dialed in and gave Baylor a chance by retiring the last 14 batters he faced in a complete-game performance. Taking a tough loss (3-4), he threw eight innings while allowing the two runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

"[Newman] is the same guy I saw coming out of high school," Smith said. "He threw pitches for strikes, he doesn't throw his curve ball anymore, and his strength is through the ball game. He's an 88 to 90 guy, and he was that today through the whole ballgame. He's a pitcher."

Baylor's only other legitimate scoring threat against Gray came in the sixth after Nathan Orf was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a Miller two-out single. But Adam Toth flew out to shallow center field to end the threat.

Earning the win, Gray (9-3) struck out a career-high-tying 12 batters in nine innings as he gave up just three hits and a walk.

As Pool One play continues, Baylor faces No. 1 Kansas State tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. CT and No. 8 Texas Tech at 9 a.m. on Saturday. If Baylor wins Pool One, it will play Pool Two winner in the championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. The probable pitchers for tomorrow are BU RHP Max Garner (3-6, 4.19 ERA) and KSU RHP Levi MaVorhis (5-0, 3.33 ERA).